6"cp  ^s^o3 


Warfield  Librarv 


IN   THE 


NOV   6    1925 


H 
1  J_^ 


H 

J 


BY 
Prof.    C.    A.    VOUNG,    Pti.D.,    LL.D., 

PRINCETON. 


CRANBURY.   N.  J    : 

CtKORCK    W.    BURROCGHS.    I'RINTKK. 


1B94. 


COI'VRICHT.    1S94. 

BY 

PROF.  C.  A.  YOl'NC;. 


God's  Glory  in  the  Heavens. 


IT  is  still  as  true  as  when  the  Psalmist  wrote  it  first,  that  "the  "^ 
"heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  and  the  firmament  showeth 
"His  handiwork.  Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and  night 
"  unto  night  showeth  knowledge."  In  some  ways  it  is  even  truer 
now  than  then,  because  to-day  the  words  have  a  more  impressive  and 
a  grander  significance  than  they  could  have  had  to  David.  To  him 
the  heavens  were  not  so  ver}'  vast,  nor  so  very  far  awa3'  ;  and  for 
him  they,  and  the  sun  and  moon,  were  mere  appendages  of  the 
earth,  of  no  importance  or  significance  except  as  beautiful  and  use- 
ful servants  of  mankind.  Now  we  know  an  immeasurable  universe, 
compared  with  which  our  great  world  itself  is  the  merest  speck — a  / 
drop    in  the  ocean,  a  mote  in  the  sunbeam. 

"He  that  sitteth  upon  the  heavens,"  "he  whom  the  heavens 
of  heavens  cannot  contain."  was  indeed,  to  the  ancient  Hebrew, 
very  great  as  compared  with  any  earthly  potentate  ;  but  what  shall 
we  now  say  of  Him  who  inhabits  the  immensity  of  space  revealed 
by  Science  ;  who  by  His  immediate,  all-pervading  presence,  actuates 
and  vivifies  the  universe  of  universes  :  of  Him  to  whom  we  still, 
but  with  a  clear  understanding,  address  the  adoring  words  of  the 
prophet  ;  "  Of  old,  O  Lord,  hast  thou  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth, 
"and  the  heavens  are  the  work  of  th^-  hands  :  they  shall  perish,  but 
"Thou  shalt  endure  :  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  change  them,  and  they 
"shall  be  changed  ;  but  Thou  art  the  same  and  thy  years  shall  have 
"  no  end." 

I  think  it  is  unquestionable  that,  as  men  have  come  to  know  \ 
more  of  the  material  universe,  they  have  had  continually  revealed 
to  them  something  more  of  the  glory  and  majesty  of  its  Creator. 
Here,  and  for  the  present,  we  see,  of  course,  only  "  through  a  glass 
"  darkly"  :  but  as  time  goes  on  we  catch  more  frequent  glimpses 
of  the  ineflable  brightness  and  the  majestic  outlines  :  we  recognize 
more  and  more  distinctly  the  presence  and  the  power  of  the  Omnipo- 
tent ;  lying  still  beyond  our  vision  and  our  touch  indeed,  but  inti- 
mated, and  to  some  extent  manifested,  in  all  the  phenomena  which 
we  can  apprehend. 


; 


/ 


/ 


Here,  however,  let  me  admit  a  limitation  as  to  the  extent  of 
this  natural  revelation  of  God,  so  far,  at  least,  as  it  appears  in  the 
science  of  astrononi}'.  ;'  I  dare  not  say  that  I  am  able  to  see  in  the 
phenomena  of  the  starry  heavens  verj'  much  that  bears  on  His  moral 
attributes  ;  very  little,  for  instance  that  goes  to  demonstrate  His 
holiness,  His  justice,  or  His  mercy.  For  such  evidence,  apart  from 
Revelation,  we  must  look  rather  to  the  moral  law  written  upon  the 
human  heart  ;  and  especially  to  the  course  of  histor\',  where  we 
clearly  recognize  "the  power,  not  ourselves,  which  makes  for  right- 
"  eousness,"  and  find  evidence  as  to  the  character  of  Him  who 
overrules  the  conflicts  of  the  nations  and  directs  the  evtr-ascending 
progress  of  the  human  race.  , 

I  may  add,  too,  that  one  finds  in  the  system  of  the  stars  less 
evidence,  perhaps,  of  the  Divine  "ingenuity," — if  I  may  be  allowed 
to  use  the  expression  reverently — fewer  cases  of  obvious  "  contriv- 
"  ance  "  than  in  the  world  of  organic  nature.  It  is  in  the  structure 
of  living  beings  that  the  most  striking  instances  of  this  sort  occur. 
Such  organs  as  the  eye  and  ear  and  the  human  hand,  and  the  won- 
derful arrangements  by  which  the  continuity  and  permanence  of  races 
are  maintained,  have  few  if  any  parallels  among  the  stars.  There  are, 
it  is  true,  numberless  adaptations  between  the  astronomical  condi- 
tions of  the  earth,  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  the  character- 
istics and  structure  of  its  inhabitants,  both  animal  and  vegetable  ; 
and  these  adaptations  may  fairly  be  adduced,  as  Whewell  and  others 
have  adduced  them,  in  evidence  of  the  Creator's  intelligence,  which 
has  fitted  together  the  habitation  and  its  inmates.  But  the  study 
and  discussion  of  these  adaptations  belongs  to  the  naturalist  rather 
than  to  the  astronomer,  and  I  shall  content  m\-self  with  this  mere 
allusion  to  them. 

The  really  impressive  lessons  of  the  stars,  it  seems  to  me,  relate 
to  the  greatness  and  eternity  of  God,  His  unity,  His  omnipresence, 
and  all-pervading  activity  ;  and  especially  the  wonderful  manner  in 
which,  by  a  few  simple  laws.  He  has  built  and  organized  the  sub- 
limely glorious  architecture  of  the  heavens,  radiant  throughout  with 
a  clear  intelligence,  which  we,  His  creatures,  can  recognize  and 
measurably  comprehend.  I  think  that  astronom\-  stands  unrivalled 
among  the  sciences  in  the  emphasis  with  which  she  teaches  these 
lessons  :  no  other  science  so  forcibly,  so  overwhelmingl}-,  impresses 
the  thoughtful  mind  with  the  infiniteness  of  God,  and  the  relative 
insignificance  of  man  and  the  little  globe  on  which  we  live.  "  What 
"  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and  the  son  of  man  that 
"Thou  visitest  him!"  This  the  student  of  astronomy  learns  to 
say  with  a  profounder  and  more  intelligent  humility  than  anj-  other 
person  can. 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  he  too,  I  think,  is  likelj-  to  recognize 
more  fully  than  other  men  the  high  dignity  of  our  human  nature, 
made  in  the  image  of  God  and  partaking  of  the  divine  ;   able  in  a 


most  real  sense  to  "comprehend"  the  whole  material  universe,  to 
share  the  thoughts  of  God,   and  to  think  them  after  Him. 

I  do  not  forget,  indeed,  the  "  infinity  of  littleness"  that  lies,  so 
to  speak,  below  us — the  world  of  microscopic  organisms  and  struct- 
ures, of  molecules,  and  atoms,  and  light-waves  ;  nor  do  I  den}'  that 
here  also  is  to  be  found  a  revelation  of  God,  which,  in  its  logical 
force  and  import,  is  as  well  worthy  of  consideration  as  that  contained 
in  the  story  of  the  stars.  But  it  seems  to  me  harder  to  read  :  the 
type  is  not  so  large,  the  sentences  are  more  intricate,  and  the  lan- 
guage is  far  less  familiar.  At  an}-  rate,  that  is  not  what  we  have 
to  deal  with  at  present. 

And  now  let  us,  in  the  first  place,  consider  the  vasfness  of  the 
material  universe  as  in  some  sense  a  revelation  of  God's  greatness. 
Clearl}'  He  is  greater  than  any  or  all  of  the  worlds  that  He  has 
made  ;  and  so  in  contrasting  the  immensity  of  that  portion  of  crea- 
tion which  we  can  see,  with  the  littleness  of  our  own  sphere  oj 
action,  we  shall  advance  toward  a  true  conception  of  the  tremendous 
meaning  of  His  omnipresence  :  advance  towards  it,  I  say,  not  reach 
it  ;  for  it  is  more  than  probable,  nay  it  is  certain,  that  our  sensible 
universe  is  but  an  infinitesimal  fraction  of  the  mighty  whole.  The 
domain  of  astronomy  is  but  a  little  corner  of  God's  material  king- 
dom ;  yet  even  this  little  corner  is  so  vast  that  we  can  attain  to 
some  conception  of  its  immensity  only  by  degrees,  beginning  with 
the  smaller  and  the  nearer,  and  so  ascending  step  by  step  through 
unimaginable  heights  until  we  reach  the  limits  of  our  human  obser- 
vation. 

Compared  with  ourselves,  and  with  the  region  we  can  fairly  see 
around  us,  the  sphere  upon  which  we  live  is  certainly  immense  :  he 
who  has  travelled  much  and  made  its  circuit  appreciates  its  great- 
ness. When  one  has  ridden  wearj^  days  and  nights  to  reach  the 
coast  of  the  Pacific,  and  then  has  steamed  some  three  weeks  or 
more  across  that  great,  lonely,  sailless  ocean  to  the  islands  of  Japan, 
and  spent  another  two  months  in  coasting  along  the  shores  of  China 
and  Siam,  and  traversing  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  the  Red  Sea,  and 
the  short-cut  at  Suez,  and  sailing  over  the  blue  Mediterranean  and 
the  rough  Atlantic  to  his  home  again  ;  such  a  man,  I  say,  begins 
to  know  something  of  the  magnitude  of  this  world  of  ours.  All 
the  thousands  of  millions  (probably  about  fifty  thousand  millions) 
of  human  beings  who  have  inhabited  the  earth  since  its  histor}^ 
began  could  be  seated,  as  roomily  as  we  are  here,  upon  the  surface 
of  the  single  State  of  New  Jersey.  Compare  a  man  even  with  moun- 
tains or  lakes  or  rivers,  not  to  speak  of  continents  and  oceans,  and 
how  small  he  is  :  how  feeble  as  against  the  wild  powers  of  wave 
and  storm  and  earthquake.  If  we  could  have  no,  knowledge  of  any- 
thing beyond  the  earth  itself,  we  should  rightly  feel  that  a  man,  or 
even  the  whole  human  race,  is  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance 
when  weighed  against  the  world. 


But  we  are  not  so  restricted  in  our  kno\vlerl;^e.  The  heavens 
arc  full  of  objects  that  from  the  be^^inninj,'  must  have  riveted  the 
attenticm  and  excited  the  curiosity  of  men.  Nearest  of  them  all, 
and  most  interesting,  on  account  of  her  constant  changes  ;uid  rapid 
motion,  is  the  Moon.  How  we  ascertain  her  distance  from  us  I 
have  no  occasion  to  explain  :  it  is  enough  that  astronomers  can 
measure  it  with  accuracy,  and  have  done  so,  finding  it  to  be  a  little 
more  than  thirty  tinjes  the  diameter  of  the  earth,  or  nearly  239,000 
miles.  So  remote  is  she  that  even  our  largest  tele.scopes  cannot 
bring  her  optically  nearer  than  eighty  miles.  The  great  telescope  of 
the  Lick  Observatory,  the  most  powerful  instrument  in  the  world 
at  present,  will  sometimes,  when  all  the  conditions  of  the  air  are 
kindly,  bear  a  power  of  about  3,000  ;  and  then  the  observer  sees  the 
surface  of  our  satellite  about  as  a  person  in  New  York  City  would, 
with  unassisted  vision,  look  into  Philadelphia,  if  he  were  raised 
high  enough  to  bring  the  towers  of  the  rival  cit}-  above  the  hori- 
zon. As  for  the  Moon  herself,  while  we  find  that  she  is  indeed 
much  smaller  than  the  earth,  yet  she  is  a  real  world,  large  enough 
to  carry  a  population  at  least  equal  to  that  which  now  inhabits  the 
earth.  It  is  true,  however,  I  may  say  in  passing,  that  we  find  the 
condition  of  afifairs  there  to  be  such  that  no  inhabitants  like  those 
which  dwell  upon  the  earth  could  live  upon  her  surface.  This 
splendid  orb  that  rules  the  night,  and  so  beautifully  brightens  our 
hours  of  darkne.ss,  is  an  airless  waste,  frozen  and  lifeless,  so  far  as 
we  can  ascertain.  "God's  ways  are  not  our  ways,  nor  His  thoughts 
like  ours  ;"  at  least  this  often  turns  out  to  be  the  case. 

T,et  us  in  imagination  leave  the  region  of  the  earth  and  attempt 
tlif  journey  to  the  Sun.  It  is  unnecessary  and  would  i)e  out  of 
place  to  discuss  this  evening  the  methods  by  which  astronomers 
have  been  able  to  stretch  their  measuring  lines  across  the  tremen- 
dous abvss  and  so  to  affix  their  scale  of  miles  to  the  great  map  of 
the  .solar  system  :  for  this  distance  ot  the  sun  is  now  the  unit  ol  all 
human  measures  in  the  celestial  spaces  ;  like  the  golden  reed  with 
which  the  angel  measured  the  walls  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  The 
problem  has  not  l)een  an  easy  one,  and  its  first  approximate  solu- 
tion was  attained  only  in  the  la.st  century  by  means  of  the  tran- 
sits of  Venus  in  1761  ami  1769.  Since  then  various  other  methods 
have  been  devised  and  carried  out,  all  of  which  practically  agree  in 
showing  that  the  mean  radius  of  the  orbit  of  the  earth  is  a  little 
less  than  93,<kk),ooo  miles — to  be  exact,  92,880,000  miles,  with  a  pos- 
sible uncertainty  of  perhaps  icx),otx)  miles  one  way  or  the  other. 
This  is  more  than  3,7«.x)  times  the  circumference  of  the  earth. 

It  is  a  distance  so  great  that  figures  convey  no  adequate  con- 
ception, and  we  are  driven  to  all  .sorts  of  illustrations  to  make  it  in 
the  least  intelligible.  We  c<)mi)are  it  with  railway  journeys,  and 
find  that  the  Ivujpire  State  Kxpress,  on  a  .schedule  of  sixty  miles  an 
hour,  woidd  occupy  174  years  upon  the  trip,  running  day  and  night. 


without  a  sino^le  stop  or  slackening^  of  speed.  We  find  that  if  sound 
could  travel  unimpeded  through  the  celestial  spaces  it  would  require 
fourteen  years  for  the  boom  of  one  of  the  great  explosions  on  the 
sun  to  reach  us  ;  and  if,  at  the  time,  some  meteoric  mass  were  pro- 
jected toward  us,  and  should  rush  unretarded  along  its  path  with 
the  speed  of  the  swiftest  cannon-ball,  an  interval  of  nearlv  seven 
years  would  elapse  before  the  arrival  of  the  missile.  The  flash  of 
the  light  itself,  darting  186,330  miles  each  second,  is  eight  minutes 
and  a  third  upon  the  wa}-.  It  is  a  tremendous  distance,  and  yet 
across  the  abyss  the  Sun  e.xerts  its  power  upon  the  Karth,  and  con- 
trols the  motion  of  the  huge  mass  as  it  whirls  along  its  orbit,  hold- 
ing it  to  its  course  by  bonds  of  attraction,  invisible  and  impalpable 
indeed,  but  in  strength  equivalent  to  the  breaking  strain  of  ropes 
of  steel  attached  to  ever}-  square  inch  of  the  whole  Earth's  surface. 
Stated  in  cold  figures,  the  mutual  attraction  between  the  Sun  and 
Earth  amounts  to  an  unceasing  ])ull  of  3,600,000  millions  of  millions 
of  tons  (36  followed  by  17  ciphers). 

And  not  only  does  the  Sun's  attraction  control  the  orbital  motion 
of  the  Earth,  but  across  the  j-awning  gulf  he  pours  the  streams  of 
radiance  which  we  call  light  and  heat,  supplying  all  the  energy 
that  operates  upon  her  surface.  By  sun  power  the  winds  blow  and 
the  waters  run  and  engines  drive  their  wheels  —  nay,  even  plants 
and  animals  grow  and  move  aiid  perform  their  varied  functions 
only  by  virtue  of  the  energy  which  is  brought  them  in  the  solar 
rav's.  We  cannot  undertake  at  this  time  to  follow  out  its  Protean 
transformations  and  show  exactly  how  to  justify  such  statements  : 
but  they  are  stricth-  true, — and  only  a  part  of  the  truth  ;  for  to  all 
the  planets  of  our  system  the  Sun,  from  the  material  point  of  view, 
is  the  symbol  and  vice-gerent  of  the  Deitj'  Himself : — the  most  mag 
nificently  glorious  of  all  created  objects  :  —  the  single  one  whose 
removal  would  be  a  death-chill  to  every  form  of  activity. 

Compared  with  the  Earth,  the  Sun  is  immense  in  magnitude  ;  x 
so  huge  that  if  the  earth  were  placed  in  the  centre  of  his  globe,  the 
distant  Moon  would  be  but  little  more  than  halfvva}'  to  its  surface, 
— so  vast  that  its  bulk  is  1,300,0(^0  times  that  of  our  own  great 
globe,  and  its  mass  330,000  times  as  great.  If  the  intensest  heat 
and  most  dazzling  brilliance  may  be  spoken  of  as  "  fire,"  then  is  the 
Sun  a  globe  of  fire,  unmatchable  except  among  the  stars  :  a  fire, 
however,  far  too  hot  to  "  burn  "  in  any  such  sense  as  the  fires  of 
our  terrestrial  furnaces  : — no  fuel  is  being  consumed  ;  but  for  thous- 
ands and  probably  for  millions  of  jears  the  tremendous  globe  of 
elementary  gases  has,  by  its  gradual  condensation,  maintained  its 
blaze,  and  ])ossibly  even  increa.sed  the  fury  of  it.  Every  square  foot 
of  its  enormous  area  still  pours  off  continuously  an  amount  of  heat 
equivalent  to  more  than  ten  thousand  horse  power  of  energy,  and 
keeps  up  a  temperature  far  higher  than  that  of  our  fiercest  furnace. 
It  seems  at   first  as  if  here  we  had  repeated   before  us  the  miracle 


8 

of  the  burninj?  bush,  and  on  a  scale  as  much  <?rander  as  the  heavens 
are  vaster  than  the  Earth.  It  is  not  so,  however,  —  the  end  will 
come  :  hut  in  such  a  process  centuries  and  niilleniutns  count  only 
like  minutes  in  our  life. 

The  Karth  and  Moon  are  not  the  only  attendants  of  the  Sun. 
His  domain  is  vastly  more  e.xtensive.  Four  planets,  which  in  scale 
of  ma|(nilu(k-  are  of  the  same  order  as  the  Earth,  are  nearest  to 
him.  The  ICarth  is  third  in  distance,  while  Mercury  and  Venus 
revolve  within  her  orbit,  and  Mars,  attended  by  its  two  pigmy 
moons,  pursues  its  course  at  a  distance  once  and  a-half  as  great  as 
ours.  And  it  is  perhaps  worth  noting  as  we  pass  that  this  planet 
Mars  is  better  situated  for  our  observation  than  any  other,  and  so 
is  better  known  to  us  ;  aKso,  that  in  many  of  its  conditions  it  is  the 
most  ICarth-like  of  all  the  heavenly  bodies  within  our  range  of 
obser\-ation  ;  and  there,  if  anywhere,  there  may  be  life  to  some 
e.xtent  re.sembling  that  which  inhabits  the  Earth.  But  of  the  actual 
existence  of  living  beings  upon  it,  we  have  no  proof  of  any  kind, 
nor  any  reasonable  ground  for  either  assertion  or  denial  ;  nor  is 
there  any  rea.son  to  e.xpect  that  we  shall  ver}-  soon  come  to  know- 
ledge more  definite  as  to  the  fact. 

Far  beyond  Mars  revolve  the  so-called  "major  planets" — the 
giant  Jupiter,  with  its  five  attendants  ;  the  ringed  Saturn,  accom- 
panied by  eight  ;  Uranus,  with  its  fairy  retinue  of  Ariel,  Umbriel, 
Titan ia,  and  Ol>eron  ;  and  still  beyond,  and  thirty-  times  as  far  from 
the  Sun  as  we  are,  the  remote  Neptune  with  its  single  moon.  You 
do  not  need  to  be  told  now  that  half  a  centur\-  ago  this  planet  was 
discovered  bj'  the  computation  of  Leverrier  and  Adams  before  any 
human  eye  ever  recognized  it.  Trusting  implicitly  in  the  dominance 
of  law,  the}'  argued,  from  some  slight  but  otherwise  unaccountable 
p>eculiarities  in  the  motion  of  Uranus,  that  such  a  planet  must  exist  : 
they  figured  out  its  place  in  the  heavens,  and  communicated  their 
results  to  friends,  who  had  access  to  telescopes  ;  and  when  the  tube 
was  duly  pointed,  there,  like  a  little  star,  was  found  the  great  world, 
solemnly  moving  along  its  appointed  path.  The}'  had  followed  out 
the  thought  of  Cod,  "the  great  Geometer,"  who  works  by  rule  and 
plummet  in  all  the  universe  of  matter,  and  "  lie  gave  them  their 
heart's  desire  "  in  permitting  them  thus  to  find  what  he  had  hid- 
den from  all  the  generations  of  their  predecessors. 

The.se  outer  worlds  are  all  immensely  greater  than  the  Earth  : 
the  bulk  of  Jupiter  is  I2(X)  times  as  great,  and  that  of  Saturn  more 
than  7tK>,  while  Iranus  and  Neptune  are  respectively  about  75  and 
90  times  larger  than  the  Earth.  It  is  a  great,  an  immense  domin- 
ion, this  of  the  Sun  :  no  less  than  5,600  millions  of  miles  in  diameter. 

If  this  were  all,  if  this  were  the  whole  of  the  universe  revealed 
by  a.strononiy,  we  might  well  say  that  the  science  had  added  much 
to  the  meaning  of  the  Psalmist's  song  of  praise.  But  vast  as  the 
solar  system    really   is.    it   is  hardly  nu)re  than   the   merest  speck  as 


compared  with  the  universe  of  stars.  For  the  stars  which  to  the 
eye  look  like  mere  glimmerin<j  points  of  light,  and  even  defv  the 
power  of  the  telescope  to  give  them  any  apparent  size,  are  really 
suns: — some  of  them  certainly  many  times  vaster  than  our  own, — 
all  shining,  not  like  the  planets  with  a  borrowed  light,  but  each 
with  a  special  radiance  of  its  own,  and  appearing  small  only  because 
of  their  inconceivable  remoteness.  They  are  so  far  awa\-,  indeed, 
that  it  is  possible  to  measure  the  distance  of  even  the  nearest  of  them 
only  by  processes  and  observations  the  most  delicate  and  refined  in 
all  the  range  of  instrumental  science.  Even  now  a  half-page  list  of 
twentj'-five  or  thirty  would  include  all  the  star-distances  which  can 
be  regarded  as  fairly  known,  though  at  present  the  catalogue  is 
beginning  to  grow  with  some  rapidity  through  the  new  resources  of 
photograph}'. 

As  the  Earth  describes  its  enormous  orbit  around  the  Sun,  itis  \ 
a  necessary  corsequence  that,  to  us  upon  the  Earth,  everything  must 
seem  as  if  we  ourselves  were  at  rest,  while  every  other  bod}-  in  the 
heavens  possessed,  in  addition  to  its  own  motion,  our  own  reversed. 
Every  star,  therefore,  must,  and  reall}'  does,  appear  to  sweep  out  in 
the  sky  an  annual  so-called  "parallactic  orbit"  186,000,000  miles  in 
diameter,  the  precise  counterpart  of  our  own  real  motion  around  the 
Sun;  and  were  the  stars  at  any  "reasonable"  distance  (say  not 
more  than  two  or  three  thousand  times  our  distance  from  the  Sun), 
this  parallactic  motion  would  be  conspicuous,  and  the  inter-stellar 
spaces  would  have  been  bridged  by  Tycho  300  years  ago. 

In  fact  the  parallactic  motion  of  the  stars  is  so  slight,  so  minute, 
that,  as  has  been  already  said,  it  can  be  detected  only  by  the  most 
scrupulous  precision  of  observation.  In  the  case  of  our  nearest 
neighbor,  Alpha  Centauri,  the  whole  width  of  its  apparent  annual 
swing  is  less  than  the  thickness  of  a  human  hair  as  seen  across  a 
lecture-room  :  small,  however,  as  such  an  angle  is,  it  can  be  meas- 
ured now,  and  as  a  result  we  find  that  this  next  door  neighbor  of 
ours,  this  nearest  of  all  our  Sun's  companions,  is  275,000  times  as 
far  away  as  we  are  from  the  Sun  :  a  distance  so  enormous  that  light 
itself  is  four  years  and  four  months  on  the  way.  As  for  our  rail- 
wav  train  at  sixt\'  milts  an  hour,  it  would  require  nearly  fort}'- 
eight  million  years  for  it  to  make  the  journey.  If  the  Earth  could 
l)e  released  from  the  attraction  of  the  Sun,  and  should  travel  straight 
on  with  its  present  speed  of  nearh*  nineteen  miles  a  second,  it  would 
take  it  nearly  43,500  years  to  clear  the  distance.  A  whimsical  illus- 
tration of  John  Herschel's  (slightly  modified  to  make  it  agree  with 
the  latest  results)  is  that  it  would  require  nearly  4,000  vessels  of 
600  tons  apiece  to  carry  peas  enough  to  mark  the  road,  by  dropping 
one  each  mile.  Another,  by  Dr.  Huggins,  is  that  the  railway  fare 
to  this  nearest  of  all  stars,  at  a  cent  a  mile  (a  half-penny,  of  course, 
in  the  original),  would  be  somewhat  more  than  250,000  millions  of 
dollars  ;   which,   according   to  a   recent  estimate  that   I   have  some- 


lO 

wliere  seen,  is  at  least  five  times  as  much  as  all  the  money  in  the 
world,  counting  all  the  gold  and  silver  and  every  form  of  paper 
currency. 

But  Alpha  Centauri  is  the  nearest  star.  Of  the  rest  whose  dis- 
tance has  been  measured,  the  three  or  four  that  come  next  (Bessel's 
6i  Cygni  and  Sirius,  the  primate  of  the  stellar  host,  among  them) 
are  from  two  to  three  times  as  remote,  and  those  tiiat  stand  lowest 
on  the  list  are  at  least  ten  times  as  far  away  ; — from  twenty  to  forty 
"light-years,"  to  use  the  now  usual  way  of  expressing  a  stellar 
distance.  At  least  twice  as  many  other  stars  have  been  carefully 
observed,  and  show  either  no  sensible  parallax  at  all  or  a  parallax 
so  small  that  it  is  impossible  to  be  quite  sure  of  its  reality  :  and 
among  these  unconquered  stars  are  still  some  of  the  brightest  of 
them  all. 

Our  present  means  and  methods  do  not  permit  us  to  measure 
with  certainty  anj'  stellar  distance  much  e.Kceeding  thirty'  or  forty 
light  3-ears  :  but  from  the  facts  at  hand  it  may  be  safeh'  inferred  that 
among  the  stars  which  the  telescope  reveals  multitudes  must  be 
hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  time  as  remote  as  the  nearest  ;  that 
we  look  upon  stars  so  far  away  that  the  light  by  which  we  see 
them  now  must  have  started  upon  its  journey  before  the  pyramids 
were  built.  The  visible  universe  of  stars  bears  about  the  same  rela- 
tion to  the  dimensions  of  the  solar  system  as  the  great  globe  of  the 
earth  to  a  gold  dollar  or  a  collar-button.  I  am  not  speaking  at 
random,  but  stating  the  result  of  a  serious  calculation.  According 
to  Profes.sor  Newcomb,  the  stars  visible  with  our  present  telescopes 
seem  to  be  irregularly  scattered  through  a  di.sc-like  space  (shaped 
something  like  a' watch),  wilh  a  diameter  of  something  like  30.000 
light-years  in  the  plane  ol  the  milky-way,  and  three  or  four  thou- 
sand in  thickness. 

As  for  the  nebulre  and  star-clusters,  they  are  among  the  stars 
and  form  part  of  the  stellar  universe  ;  at  least  this  is  unquestionably 
true  of  most  of  them.  Forty  or  fift\'  years  ago  a  different  view  pre- 
vailed, however,  and  is  verj'  prominent  in  the  writings  of  Dick, 
Nicol,  Mitchel  and  others  of  that  period.  It  was  then  generally 
supposed  that  nebulae  are  only  star-clusters,  so  remote  that  the  sepa- 
rate stars  cannot  be  seen,  and  that  the  star-clusters  which  the  teles- 
cope resolves  are  composed  of  stars  really  as  large  as  the  sun.  They 
thought  that  our  sun  and  the  conspicuous  stars,  together  with  the 
milky-wa\-,  form  a  clu.ster  by  themselves,  and  that  the  telescopic 
clusters  and  the  nebulje  are  similar  swarms  of  stars  and  suns  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  our  own  galactic  group.  The  association  of 
large  stars  with  small,  in  many  of  the  clusters,  the  frefpient  and 
intimate  connection  of  stars  with  nebulfe,  and  especially  the  now- 
demonstrated  gaseous  nature  of  the  nebul.ne,  negative  this  view  on 
the  whole.  At  the  same  time  it  is  by  no  means  impo.ssible  that 
among   the  star  clusters  there  ma}'  be  here  and  there  such  a  stellar 


11 

swarm  as  that  view  contemplates  :  it  may  be  that  here  and  there 
we  catch  fjlimpses  of  universes  beyond  the  limits  of  our  own. 

I  shall  not  raise  the  question  of  the  absolute  infinity  of  the 
universe  of  matter,  or  even  of  space  itself.  It  is  enough  for  me 
that  thus  far  we  find  no  evidence,  no  sugj^cstion  even,  of  a  limit 
and  a  bound  to  the  material  dominion  of  the  deity.  However  far 
we  penetrate,  there  still  seems  to  ])e  an  infinity  beyond. 

Some  of  you,  no  doubt,  remember  the  dream  of  Richter,  the 
German  poet — a  dream  in  form,  j^erhaps,  but  after  all  only  a  shadow 
of  the  overwhelming  reality.      May  I  quote  it  to  you  in  part? 

"  God  called  up  from  dreams  a  man  into  the  vestibule  of  heaven, 
"  saying,  come  thou  hither  and  see  the  glory  of  my  house.  And 
*'  to  the  servants  that  stood  around  his  throne  he  said,  take  him,  and 
"  undress  him  from  his  robes  of  flesh  :  cleanse  his  vision  and  j)ut  a 
"  new  breath  into  his  nostrils  ;  only  touch  not  with  change  his 
"  human  heart,  the  heart  that  weeps  and  trembles.  It  was  done  ; 
"  and  with  a  mi;4^hty  angel  for  his  guide  the  man  stood  ready  for 
"  his  infinite  voyage  ;  and  from  the  terrace  of  heaven,  without  sound 
"  or  farewell,  at  once  they  wheeled  away  into  endless  space.  JSome- 
*'  times  with  the  solemn  flight  of  angel  wing  they  flew  through 
"  wastes  of  darkness,  through  wildernesses  of  death  that  divided  the 
*'  worlds  of  light  :  sonietiaies  they  swept  over  frontiers  that  were 
"  quickening  under  prophetic  motions  from  (rod.  Then  from  a  dis- 
"  tance  that  is  counted  only  in  heaven,  light  dawned  for  a  time 
*'  through  a  sleepy  film  :  by  unutterable  pace  the  light  swept  to 
"  them,  they  b\'  unutterable  pace  to  the  light.  In  a  moment  the 
"  rushing  of  planets  was  upon  them  ;  in  a  moment  the  blazing  of 
■'  suns  was  around  them.  Then  came  eternities  of  twilight  that 
*'  revealed,  but  were  not  revealed.  On  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left 
"  towered  might}'  constellations  that  by  self-repetitions  and  answers 
"  from  afar  built  up  triumphal  gates,  whose  architraves,  whose  arch- 
'■  ways,  horizontal,  uprighl,  rested,  rose,  at  altitudes,  b}-  spans  that 
*'  seem  ghostly  from  infinitude.  Without  measure  were  the  archi- 
"  traves,  jjast  number  were  the  archways,  beyond  memory  the  gates. 
"  Within  were  stairs  that  scaled  the  eternities  below, — below  was 
"  above  to  man  .stripped  of  his  gravitating  body  :  depth  was  svval- 
"  lowed  up  ill  height  immeasurable,  height  in  depth  unfathomable. 
"  Suddenly  as  thus  the\'  rode  from  infinite  to  infinite,  suddenly  as 
"  thus  they  swe|)t  over  abysmal  worlds,  a  mighty  cry  arose  that 
"  systems  more  mysterious,  that  worlds  more  billowy,  other  heights 
"  and  other  depths  were  coming,  were  nearing,  were  at  hand.  Then 
"  the  man  sighed  and  stopped,  shuddered  and  wept.  His  overladen 
"  heart  uttered  itself  in  tears  ;  and  he  said,  '  Angel,  I  will  go  no 
"  '  farther  :  for  the  spirit  of  man  acheth  with  this  infinity.  Insuf- 
"  '  ferable  is  the  glor\-  of  God.  Let  me  lie  down  in  the  grave  and 
"  '  hide  me  from  ihe  persecution  of  the  infinite,  for  end  I  see  there 
"  '  is  none.'  And  from  all  the  listening  stars  that  shone  around 
"  issued  a  choral  voice,  'The  man  speaks  truly  :  end  there  is  none 
"  'that  ever  yet  we  heard  of.'  "End,  is  there  none?'  the  angel 
"  .solemnly  demanded  :  '  Is  there  indeed  no  end  ?  and  is  this  the 
"  "sorrow  that  overwhelmed  you?'  But  no  voice  answered.  Then 
"  the  angel  threw  up  his  glorious  hands  to  the  heaven  of  heavens, 
"saying:  'Hud  there  is  none  to  the  universe  of  God.  Lo,  also 
"  '  there  is  no  beginning.'  " 


12 

"O  Lord,  our  r.od.jThou  art  very  great  !  Heaven  and  Earth 
"  are  full  of  the  majesty  of  Thy  Glory  !  " 

/       /  And   the    Time-Scale  of  the  universe   matches  its  spatial   extent. 

'"Sy  "  Our  little  lives  are  bounded  by  a  sleep."  Not  so  with  the  life,  the 
growth,  maturity  and  decay  of  worlds  and  systems.  As  we  study  in 
the  geological  record  the  histor}'  of  our  small  globe,  we  find  that 
even  after  it  became  a  world,  ages  upon  ages,  millions  upon  million.s 
of  years  must  have  been  occupied  in  fitting  it  for  human  habitation. 
It  may  not  yet  be  possible  to  count  with  certainty  the  time  consumed 
in  each  successive  stage,  and  so  to  fix  the  length  of  the  "creative 
days  ;"  but  it  is  clear  beyond  all  questioning  that  the  whole  summed 
up  duration  of  the  earth  bears  some  such  ratio  to  a  human  life,  as 
the  earth's  vast  bulk  to  that  of  a  human   body. 

And  when  we  consider  the  present  condition  and  peculiarities 
of  the  solar  S3'stem,  and  note  in  it  the  evident  traces  of  a  formative 
process — an  evolution  from  a  pre-existing  chaos,  facts  and  phenom- 
ena which  seem  to  mark  it  as  a  growth  rather  than  a  structure — 
and  when  we  consider  how  slow  and  gradual  such  a  process  must 
have  been,  we  are  forced  to  conclude  that  the  Earth's  duration,  as 
a  habitable  world,  can  be  but  a  minute  fraction  of  the  time  elapsed 
since  the  s\stem  itself  took  form  and  order.  And  in  the  heavens 
we  seem  to  find  bodies  in  all  the  various  stages  of  our  own  history 
as  a  .system.  There  are  nebulae  which  are  mere  formless  clouds  of 
luminous  gas  ;  others  that  are  more  or  less  globular,  and  partly 
condensed  around  a  .star-like  point  in  the  centre  :  .some  are  like 
spiral  whirlpools,  and  there  are  some  in  which  there  .seems  to  be  a 
central  globe,  with  whirling  rings  around  it,  like  the  strange  appen- 
dages of  Saturn,  which  suggested  to  La  Place  his  famous  theory  of 
planetary  evolution.  There  are  stars  with  wisps  of  nebula  attached 
to  them,  like  those  of  the  Pleiades.  There  are  stars  whose  spectra 
seem  to  be  intermediate  between  those  of  nebuUe  and  finished  suns  : 
there  are  other  stars  whose  spectra  suggest  an  intenser  heat  and  a 
more  dazzling  radiance  than  that  of  our  own  central  orb,  and  also 
others  that  match  its  spectrum  with  precise  exactitude.  Others  yet 
.seem  to  be  on  the  downward  grade  and  verging  towards  extinction- 
And  one  of  the  most  remarkable  results  of  the  work  of  the  past 
few  years  is  the  certain  demonstration  of  the  existence  of  stars  that 
in  mass  and  bulk  resemble  the  bright  stars  near  them,  but  tlieni- 
•selves  are  dark  and  utterly  invisible.  One  cannot  say  for  sure  that 
they  have  lost  their  light,  because  we  do  not  know  with  certainty  that 
they  ever  shone  ;  jjiesumably  the}'  did,  however  :  and  now,  their  use- 
fulness as  suns  outlived,  they  await  the  changes  by  which,  as  in 
all  other  departments  of  the  creation,  the  remains  of  tho.se  that  have 
perished  are  utilized  in  the  building  up  of  new  forms  and  activities  ; 
or  possibly  some  sort  of  stellar  resurrection,  by  which  they  them- 
selves .shall  be  restored  to  the  ranks  of  the  shining  ones. 

As   the  elder  Ilerschel   expres.ses  it   in  speaking  of  the  sidereal 


13 

universe,  the  case  is  like  that  of  a  forest  in  which  one  finds  all 
stages  of  arboreal  life  together  :  there  are  the  seeds  and  saplings, 
3'oung  trees  of  rapid  growth,  and  those  that  are  in  the  fnll  strength 
■of  their  maturity — those  also  that  have  begun  to  fail,  and  over  all 
the  ground  the  prostrate  trunks  and  decaying  debris  of  those  that 
have  died  and  fallen.  Though  an  observer  cannot  in  any  short  time 
study  the  life-history  of  a  single  individual  tree,  yet  by  a  few  hours 
study  of  the  forest  he  can  form  a  fair  idea  of  the  successive  stages 
of  that  history.  So  we  can  also  conclude  something  as  to  the  dura- 
tion of  the  stellar  universe,  and  we  find  it  beyond  all  human  concep- 
tion. Individual  stars  and  sj-stems  indeed  give  clear  indications 
that  they  are  by  no  means  eternal  ;  but  the  great  whole, — it  must 
be  that  its  duration  exceeds  as  much  the  countless  ages  of  the  life 
of  any  single  sjstem,  as  that  of  the  entire  human  race  surpasses 
that  of  any  man.  In  time,  as  well  as  in  space,  the  Divine  presence 
and  activity  declares  itself  to  us  as  transcending  all  limits  we  can 
fathom. 

What  now  is  to  be  said  of  the  Pozi'cr  of  God  as  revealed  in  the 
astronomical  universe  ?  Whether  we  consider  the  forces  which  act 
between  the  heavenh-  bodies,  their  tremendous  masses,  and  the  swift- 
ness with  which  they  move,  the  figures  which  e.xpress  the  so-called 
"molar  energy"  of  the  universe  are  utterly  be3ond  conception; — 
on  the  same  stupendous  scale  as  the  measures  of  space  and  time. 
Add  to  this  "molar  energy"  the  "molecular  energy"  of  heat  and 
light,  of  electric  and  magnetic  activity',  and  that  of  chemical  affini. 
ties — energies,  acting  within  either  the  bodies  themselves  or  radiat- 
ing from  world  to  world  through  the  depths  of  space — and  the  total 
result  is  simply  overwhelming.  As  the  dimensions  of  the  universe 
and  its  duration  exceed  all  human  powers  of  expression  or  concep- 
tion, so  also  does  its  actuating  energy. 

Attempt,  for  instance,  a  comparison  between  the  energy  expended 
in  driving  across  the  ocean  the  largest  vessel  of  the  Atlantic  steam 
fleet  and  that  stored  up  in  the  revolution  of  the  Moon  upon  its  axis. 
We  find  that  this  stored-up  energy  of  the  slowly-turning  little  satel- 
lite, which  occupies  a  month  in  each  rotation,  exceeds  the  other  in 
the  proportion  of  more  than  50,000  millions  to  one.  The  Earth's 
energy  of  axial  rotation  is  more  than  800,000  times  greater  than  that 
of  the  Moon,  and  the  energy  of  the  Earth's  orbital  motion,  as  she 
rushes  on  at  the  speed  of  nearly  nineteen  miles  a  second,  exceeds 
the  rotational  energy  b}'  more  than   11,000  times. 

What  shall  we  say,  then,  of  the  stored-up  energy  of  such  a 
planet  as  the  swiftly-whirling  giant  Jupiter.^  Or  that  of  the  Sun 
and  its  attendant  planets  in  the  tremendous  journey  they  are  mak- 
ing through  inter-stellar  space  with  the  velocity  of  about  ten  miles 
a  second  (that  is  at  least  twenty-five  times  as  great  as  the  speed  of 
the  swiftest  cannon  ball)  ?  What,  then,  must  be  the  total  energy 
of  all  the  whirling,  rushing,  flying  universe  of  stars  and  systems  ! 


:w 


14 

Then  a.s  to  the  heat-energy  of  the  universe  (to  consider  no  other 
form  of  molecular  activity),  recall  that  every  square  yard  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  vSuu  is  pouring  off  continuously  about  five  times  as  much 
power  as  that  exerted  by  the  great  engines  of  the  Campania  at  her 
highest  speed  ;  and  then  remember  the  millions  upon  millions  of 
other  suns  as  great  and  fiercely  hot  as  ours. 

Consider,  too,  the  forces,  the  pulls  and  pushes,  that  fill  the  uni- 
verse :  how,  in  some  mysterious  way,  each  separate  atom  of  the 
mighty  whole  is  urged  tow^ard  every  other  b}'  what  we  call  "'attrac- 
tion " — a  name  to  hide  our  ignorance.  To  one  who  has  not  thought 
much  about  it,  it  .seems  a  very  simple  thing,  this  attraction  ;  and 
in  a  sense  it  certainly  is  "simple,"  a  fundamental  fact  as  certain 
as  the  results  of  the  most  elementary  mathematics,  and  no  more  to 
be  called  in  question  :  and  3^et  it  is  an  inscrutable  mystery  so  far  ; 
one  that  defies  all  explanation  as  obstinately  as  the  kindred  prob- 
lem, how  the  indwelling  spirit  of  man  or  animal  calls  into  action 
and  controls  the  power  exerted  by  the  muscles.  Even  if  it  should 
become  clear  hereafter  that  in  some  wa\-  these  interatomic  forces, 
this  attraction  of  gravitation,  and  the  electric  and  magnetic  forces 
of  the  universe,  are  all  but  various  consequences  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  mysterious  space-filling  "  ether  "  of  the  physicist,  the  con- 
clusion would  still  be  untouched  that,  in  the  last  anah'sis,  we  are 
compelled  to  recognize  all  the  forces  and  energies  of  nature  as  mani 
festations  of  the  power  of  the  omnipotent,  omnipresent,  immanent 
deity.  May  I  quote  to  you  a  passage  from  a  suggestive  paper  by 
Sir  John  Herschel,  published  .some  thirtj'  years  ago,  allowing  myself 
.some  liberties  of  condensation  and  omission.  It  is  a  dialogue  between 
one  Hermogenes  and  his  wife,  Hermione.  They  have  been  talking 
about  the  atomic  theory  of  matter,  but  have  rather  wandered  off 
and  now  she  sa3's : 

"(She):  Do  come  back  to  our  dear  atoms:  I  love  the  delicate 
"  little  creatures.     There  is  something  so  fairy-like  about  them. 

"(He)  :  Well,  they  have  their  idiosyncrasies.  I  mean  they  obey 
"  the  law  of  their  being.  They  comport  themselves  according  to  their 
"  primary  constitution.  They  conform  to  the  fixed  rule  implanted 
"  in  them  at  the  instant  of  their  creation.  They  act  and  react  upon 
"  each  other  according  to  the  rigorously  exact,  mathfuiatically-deter- 
"  mined  relations  laid  down  from  the  beginning.  They  work  out 
"  the  preconceived  scheme  of  the  universe  by  their — their — col . 

"  (Shk)  :  Their.''  Stop,  .stop!  My  dear  Hermogenes,  where  will 
"  you  land  us?  Obey  /(jws  ■'  Do  they  k)io:c  them — can  they  loiuni- 
'"  ber  them?  How  else  can  they  obey  them?  Comport  them.selves 
"  according  to  their  primary  constitution  ?  Well,  that  is  so  far  intel- 
"  ligible  :  they  are  as  they  are,  and  not  as  they  are  not.  Conform 
"  to  a  fixed  rule  !  But,  then,  they  must  be  able  to  apply  the  rule 
"  as  the  case  arises.  Act  and  react  according  to  determinate  rela- 
"  tions !  I  suppose  you  mean  relations  with  each  other.  But  how 
"  are  they  to  know  these  relations  ?  Here  is  your  atom  A,  there 
"  is  your  atom  B  (I  sj)eak  as  you  have  taught  me  to  sjieak),  and 
"  a   long   interval   between   them   and   no  link    of  connection.       How 


15 

is  A  to  know  where  B  is,  or  in  wliat  relations  it  stands  to  B  ? 
Poor,  dear  little  atoms  !     I   pity  them. 

"(Hei:  You  may  spare  your  sympathy;  they  are  absolutely 
blind  and  passive. 

"(She):  Blind  and  passive!  The  more  tlie  wonder  liow  thej- 
come  to  perceive  those  same  relations  you  talk  about,  and  how 
they  comport  themselves  (act,  I  should  sa})  on  that  perception.  I 
have  a  better  theorv  of  the  universe. 

"(He):   Tell  it  nie. 

"(She):  In  the  beginning  was  the  nebulous  matter  or  Akaseh. 
Its  bou;;dle.ss  and  tumultuous  waves  heaved  in  chaotic  wildness, 
and  all  was  oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  electricity.  Such  a  state  of 
things  could  not  continue,  and  as  it  could  not  be  worse,  altera- 
tion  was  necessarily  improvement.     Then  came 

"(He):  Now  it  is  my  turn  to  say.  Stop  !  Stop!  Let  us  be 
serious.  Remember,  it  was  3'ou  who  began  the  conversation,  and 
I  only  allowed  myself  to  be  drawn  into  it.  The  fact  is  I  have 
so  far  only  been  tr3-ing  you,  and  I  see  you  are  apt.  There  lies 
the  real  difficulty  about  these  atoms.  These  same  '  relations  in 
'which  they  stand  to  each  other'  are  anything  but  simple  ones; 
they  involve  all  the  '  ologies '  and  all  the  'ometries.'  Their 
movements,  their  interchanges,  their  '  hates  and  loves,'  their 
'attractions  and  repulsions,'  their  'correlations,'  their  what  not, 
are  all  determined  on  the  very  in.stant.  There  is  no  liesitation,  no 
blundering,  no  trial  and  error.  A  problem  of  dynamics  which 
would  drive  Lagrange  mad  is  solved  instanter,  so  to  speak,  on  the 
gallop.  A  differential  equation  which  would  belt  the  Earth  is 
integrated  in  an  eye-twinkle.  In  short,  these  atoms  are  most  won- 
derful little  creatures. 

"  (She)  :  Wonderful  indeed  !  Anyhow,  they  must  have  not  only 
good  memories,  but  astonishing  presence  of  mind  to  be  always 
ready  to  act,  and  always  to  act  without  mistake  in  ever}'  compli- 
cation that  occurs. 

"(He):  Thou  hast  said  it.  This  is  just  the  point.  The  pres- 
ence of  Mind  is  what  solves  the  whole  difficulty  ;  so  far,  at  least, 
as  it  brings  it  within  the  sphere  of  our  own  consciousness,  and 
into  conformity  with  our  own  experience  of  what  action  is.  When 
we  know  that  we  act,  we  are  al.so  conscious  of  will  and  effi^rt  ; 
and  action  without  zvill  or  effort  is  to  us,  constituted  as  we  are. 
unrealizable  and  inconceivable." 


Yes,  it  is  God  him.self  who  works  in  and  through  the  whole 
stupendous  mechanism,  and  his  greatness  appears  to  us  in  the  rela- 
tions of  power  as  clearly  as  those  of  space  and  time.  '-^^ 

Again,  the  whole  astronomical  universe  manifests  not  ow\y  powerS^^ 
but  intelligence  and  wisdom.  Our  planetary  system  is  not  a  jumble, 
but  an  orderly  organization,  governed  by  laws  of  extreme  simplicity 
and  beauty— l^ws  which  our  human  intelligence  delights  to  search 
out,  recognize  and  apply  in  scientific  prophec}'.  And  while  the 
stellar  system  is  different  and  much  more  complicated,  so  that  as 
3^et  we  can  only  partly  comprehend  its  plan,  yet  here  also  we  catch 
glimpses  of  divine  symmetries,  and  begin  to  make  out  the  harmo- 
nies, intricate  but  exquisite,  of  the  multitudinous  chorus. 

Surely  it  is  one  of  the  keenest  pleasures  possible  to  man,  when 
at  the  appointed  moment,  fixed  long  ago  as  the  result  of  laborious 


r6 

calculations,  the  obedient  stars  come  to  some  predetermined  aspect, 
or  Mercury  keeps  punctually  his  rendezvous  with  the  Sun  (as  he 
will  next  November),  or  when  at  the  very  second  of  prediction  the 
shadow  of  the  Moon  sweeps  over  the  place  where  the  observer  has 
stationed  himself;  or  when  what  seemed  at  first  capricious  erran- 
cies of  some  distant  planet  are  recognized  as  the  legitimate  effect 
of  an  unknown  attraction,  and  so  become  the  demonstration  of  an 
unsuspected   world,  and  the  means  of  its  discovery. 

But  let  me  add  here,  as  something  to  be  torne  in  mind  from 
the  philosophical  point  of  view,  that  the  astronomical  prediction  of 
events  can  never  be  absolutely  precise.  If  our  means  of  observation 
were  delicate  enough  to  note  the  million-millionths  of  a  second  of 
time  or  arc  as  easily  as  now  we  note  the  single  seconds  themselves, 
an  accurate  almanac  would  be  impossible  ;  because  the  majestic 
course  of  even  astronomical  events  is  really  ithough  at  present  only 
imperceptibly)  swerved  and  disturbed  by  causes  that  are  unpredict- 
able— such  as  the  actions  of  animals  and  men.  One  cannot  build 
a  house  or  even  throw  a  stone  without  in  fact,  and  to  some  extent, 
deranging  the  rotation  of  the  Earth  and  changing  the  length  of 
the  day  :  to  say  nothing  of  the  immensel}'  greater  disturbances  due 
to  such  natural  causes  as  storms,  volcanoes  and  earthquakes.  I 
think  it  is  something  more  than  merelj'  "fortunate"  that  we  and 
what  we  can  do  are  so  proportioned  to  the  universe,  and  our  powers 
of  observation  so  limited,  that  we  cannot  perceive  in  the  heavens 
any  trace  of  these  little  ripples  and  quivers  in  the  progress  of 
astronomical  phenomena.  Otherwise  we  should  be  hopelessly  con- 
fused. We  are  made  so  small  in  size  and  power  that  we  can  exer- 
cise our  freedom  and  disturb  the  universe  as  much  as  we  are  able 
without  obscuring  the  manifestation  of  the  heavenly  laws.  We  can 
do  no  more  mischief  than  flies  upon  a  locomotive,  and  may  be  allowed 
so  to  speak,  to  play  with  the  universe  as  much  as  we  please. 

I  have  spoken  of  our  system  as  a  "'structure"  of  sublime  and 
beautiful  simplicit3\  but  I  did  not  mean  to  intimate  that  it  had  been 
made  by  building.  It  appears  much  more  likel}'  that  it  has  arrived 
at  its  present  state  by  a  process  of  growth  and  evolution.  I  do  not 
propose  to  discuss  the  process  here,  but  only  to  say  that  if  this  view 
is  correct,  it  seems  to  me  to  evince  a  still  mere  admirable  and  ailor- 
able  intelligence, — I  speak  it  reverently — than  any  mere  "construc- 
tion "  from  read\--made  material  :  as  much  more  wonderful  as  the 
evolution  of  a  plant  from  its  seed,  or  a  bird  from  its  ^^^  ;  is  more 
wonderful  than  the  making  of  a  watch  or  the  erection  of  a  house. 
The  old-fa.shioned  view  that  Ciod  made  the  Sun  and  planets  one  by 
one,  and  set  them  whirling  upon  their  axes,  and  made  them  travel 
around  the  Sun  in  orbits  nearly  circles  and  nearly  in  one  plane, 
because  such  a  S3stem  would  be  the  best  and  most  stable  possible, — 
this  view,  I  say,  seems  to  me  far  less  honorable  to  the  Divine  intel- 
ligence and  power  than   that  which  sujiposes  Him  so  to  have  con- 


17 

trived  and  energized  the  matter  ont  of  which  the  worlds  are  made 
that  from  a  chaotic  nebula  should  have  resulted  the  present  stately 
cosmos  by  the  simple  operation  of  the  laws  and  forces  He  first 
imposed: — never  forgetting,  however,  that  the  power  of  God  him- 
self has  all  the  time  been  immanent  and  operative  in  all  these  so- 
called  "  natural  processes."  It  is  true  that  as  yet  the  exact  course 
and  methods  of  this  evolution  are  only  dimly  understood  ;  but  one 
cannot  doubt  that,  as  we  rise  to  clearer  perception  and  fuller  com- 
prehension, we  shall  find  in  them  still  more  wonderful  revelations 
of  the  divine  intelligence.  ^     . 

One  other  point  remains  to  be  noted  briefly, — how  the  Unity  ot\ 
God  declares  itself  in  the  revelations  of  Astronomy.  Identity  of 
substance  and  of  law,  similarity  of  plan  and  purpose  run  through 
the  whole.  As  to  material,  the  only  astronomical  "specimens,"  the 
only  pieces  of  non -terrestrial  matter  upon  which  we  can  actually 
place  our  hands,  are  the  meteorites  which  fall  upon  the  Earth  from 
time  to  time.  It  may  not  be  perhaps  quite  certain  that  they  all 
have  had  their  origin  outside  our  solar  s^-stem,  but  the  prevailing 
opinion  is  that  they  come  from  far  beyond,  from  interstellar  space. 
Now,  we  do  not  find  in  them  a  single  chemical  element  unknown 
upon  the  Earth  ;  nor  any  combination  of  elements  disobedient  to 
the  laws  of  terrestrial  chemistry,  though  we  do  find  in  them  manj- 
minerals  which  are  never  met  with  elsewhere,  and  seem  to  have 
been  formed  under  conditions  very  different  from  those  that  exist 
upon  the  Earth.  Their  whole  testimony,  not  conclusive,  perhaps, 
but  relevant  and  weighty  so  far  as  it  goes,  tends  to  indicate  a  wide- 
spread identity  of  matter  and  of  law. 

The  more  recent  evidence  of  the  spectroscope  also  bears  in  the 
same  direction  with  still  more  force,  and  with  a  far  broader  reach. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  here  to  enter  into  explanations  how 
the  light  of  every  shining  body  carries  with  it  a  more  or  less  satis- 
factory record  of  its  constitution  and  condition.  The  lovely  ribbon 
of  color  which  we  call  its  spectrum  is  marked  with  transverse  lines 
and  bands,  sometimes  bright  and  sometimes  dark  ;  and  these  are 
characters  which,  to  those  who  can  read  them,  tell  more  or  less  com- 
pletely the  story  of  its  state  and  nature.  Now,  in  the  spectra  of 
the  heavenly  bodies — of  the  Sun  and  stars  and  nebulae — we  find  the 
clear  record  of  the  presence  of  familiar  elements.  Here  and  there, 
it  is  true,  we  meet  with  characters  which  we  cannot  decipher,  some 
of  which  possibly  may  indicate  bodies  unknown  upon  the  Earth  : 
but  always,  and  still  more  strikingly,  stand  out  the  well-known 
lines  of  hydrogen  and  calcium,  of  sodium,  magnesium  and  iron — 
the  same  which  are  the  most  conspicuous  in  the  spectrum  of  the 
Sun  (and  Rowland  says  that  if  the  Earth  were  heated  to  the  solar 
temperature,  its  spectrum  would  be  practically  the  same  as  that  of 
the  Sun  itself).  The  names  of  many  of  our  terrestrial  metals  are 
written  upon  some  of  the  remotest  stars  as   plainly  as   any  monu- 


\ 


\ 


i8 

mental  inscription.  Sirius  and  \'e<^a,  indeed  a  lartje  majority  of  all 
the  stars,  exhibit  hydrogen  as  distinctly  as  any  be'.l-jar  upon  the 
laboratory  table  :  and  in  its  luminous  properties  the  slellar  hydro- 
gen is  identical  with  the  solar,  and  the  solar  with  the  earthly.  The 
sodium  of  Arcturus  and  the  magnesium  and  iron  of  Capella  ring 
out  in  perfect  luminous  unison  with  the  same  molecules  upon  the 
Earth.  And  it  seems  to  me,  notwithstanding  certain  adverse  criti- 
cisms, that  Herschel  and  Maxwell  are  quite  justified  in  maintaining 
that  the  molecule  of  every  element,  say  hydrogen  or  iron,  bears  all 
the  marks  of  a  "  manufactured  article,"  containing  precisely  a  definite 
quantity  of  matter,  put  together  in  a  definite  waj-,  and  of  definite 
dimensions  and  structure  :  as  well-made  and  as  accurately  pitched 
as  an}'  tuning-fork  ; — and  everywhere  the  same  in  all  portions  of  the 
universe  as  yet  open  to  human  exploration. 

So  also  the  law  of  gravitation  appears,  with  the  highest  proba- 
bility, to  be  actually  (though  not  necessarily)  universal.  The  motions 
of  the  double  stars  are  precisely  what  the}'  ought  to  be  if  the  same 
attractions  which  control  the  movements  of  the  planets  are  also 
dominant  in  those  distant  regions.  These  "binaries,"  as  they  are 
called,  move  in  oval  orbits  around  a  point  between  them,  which  is 
presumably  their  common  centre  of  gravity  ;  and  when  we  compute 
their  motion  on  the  hypothesis  of  gravity,  they  follow  obediently 
in  the  path  described.  It  is  true  that  the  demonstration  is  not  yet 
complete.  Other  laws  of  force  are  conceivable  which  would  corres- 
pond to  such  an  orbit  :  but  they  all  involve  the  condition  that  the 
force,  instead  of  depending  solely  upon  the  mass  and  distance  of 
the  bodies,  must  also  be  determined  in  part  by  the  direction  of  the 
line  that  joins  them,  and  that  in  a  manner  complicated  and  improb- 
able. When  spectroscopic  observations  have  been  longer  carried  on, 
it  will  be  possible  to  decide  the  matter  definitely,  and  I  have  not 
the  slightest  doubt  that  it  will  then  appear  that  gravitation  alone 
explains  and  rules  the  motions  of  the  stars. 

I  might  instance  other  wa\-s  in  which  the  oneness  of  the  starry 
heavens  appears  :  the  manner  in  which  the  stars  classifj-  themselves 
according  to  their  spectra  ;  the  similarit\'  of  the  forms  and  charac- 
teristics of  the  nebuhe,  and  in  many  cases  the  curious  connections 
between  stars  and  nebula?.  Here  we  have  identical  appearances 
and  behaviors  manifesting  themselves  in  objects  and  regions  sepa- 
rated by  distances  so  vast  that  light  must  recjuire  milleniums  to 
cross  them.  In  short,  the  "Universe  of  Astronomy,"  immense  as 
it  is  in  space  and  time  and  energy,  is  not  an  aggregate  of  many 
differing  and  discordant  and  unrelated  parts,  but  a  single,  magnifi- 
cent whole,  an  orderly  "  cosmos  "  of  organized  activity  ;  and  its 
oneness  illustrates  and  declares  the  Unity  of  the  Creator,  the  one 
Eternal,  Omnipresent,  Omnipotent,  All-wise  GOD,  glorious  forever 
and  ever. 

And   now,    finally,!,  let   us   for  a   moiuent   emphasize  one  other 


V 


19 

thought  that  has  recurred  continually  to  my  own  mind,  as  I  pre-  sJ 
same  it  has  to  yours,  while  we  have  been  considerinjj  the  great 
universe  of  matter,  law  and  energy,  which  the  eye  and  the  tele- 
scope reveals  to  us  ; — this,  namely,  that  after  all  the  human  mind 
and  soul  is  greater  and  more  wonderful,  higher  and  nobler  than 
even  the  stars  of  heaven.  We  are  made  in  the  image  of  God,  an 
expression  the  fullness  of  whose  meaning  I  imagine  we  shall  better 
understand  hereafter  :  we  share  His  nature. — I  speak  it  reverently, — 
and  his  eternal  life.  Strange  as  it  sometimes  seems,  when  we  mea- 
sure our  weakness  and  littleness  against  the  immensities  of  the 
heavens,  still  it  is  true  that  God  " /s  mindful  of  man,  and  visits 
the  Son  of  man,"  in  whom  is  the  breath  of  the  Most  High/  I  do  not 
remember  ever  to  have  seen  the  thought  more  strikingly  e.xprtssed 
than  in  a  poem  which  appeared  anonymously  some  dozen  years  ago, 
but  is  now  known  to  have  been  written  by  the  late  Mr.  R.  A. 
Proctor.  May  I  read  it  in  closing,  allowing  myself  a  few  slight 
changes  from   the  original,   the  better  to  adapt  it  to  my  pnrpo.se. 

VOICES   OF   THE   STARS. 


B}'  "Vega  "    (R.  A.   Proctok).      From  Knowledge,  Oct.   12,   18S3. 


I  watched  the  depths  of  darkness  iufiiiite, 

Bestrewu  with  stars,  till  dreaininpf  I  beheld, 

From  out  the  mystic  realms  beyond  my  ken, 

A  star  come  forth  with  even-gliding  rush  ; 

Till  sweeping  ever  onward  shone  its  orb 

With  all  the  mighty  meaning  of  a  Sun — 

A  Sun  girt  round  by  many-peopled  worlds. 

And  worlds  as  yet  not  peopled,  being  young. 

And  worlds  long  since  unpeopled,  being  old 

And  dead.      Their  ruling  Sun  shone  on  them — 

Ou  the  living,  on  the  yet  unfashioned, 

On  the  dead  :  on  all  it  .shone,  though  idly 

Where'er  as  j-et  life  had  not  sprung  from  forth 

The  teeniiuv;  womb  of  Time  :  and  idly  toj 

Where  life  had  ceased  to  be.     On  all  the.se  worlds 

The  mystic  force  which  lives  in  matter  worked 

Its  mighty  will.      Dead  worlds  and  worlds  since  born. 

And  worlds  astir  with  myriad  forms  of  life 

Swept  circling  round  the  stately  ruling  orb. 

.\s  it  swept  past  I  heard  its  solemn  voice 
Proclaiming  through  the  realms  of  space  the  .song — 
The  everlasting  song  of  Life  and  Death — 
Of  wealth,  of  life  and  everlasting  waste 
And  dearth  of  life.      It  sang  of  present,  past. 
And  coming  plenitudes  of  life  ;   of  past 
And  coming  wastes  of  death  .   infinitudes 
At  once  of  Life  and  Death,  each  without  end. 
Without  beginning  each. 

"  Along  my  path 
"  In  front,"  it  said,  "  and  l)ackwards  whence  I  came, 
"  And  all  around,  above,  below  my  course, 


20 


•  Lie  millions  such  as  I,  through  L-ndlcss  realms 

'  Of  star-strewn  space.     There  is  no  end  to  God's 

■  l>omain  of  suns,  and  systems  ruled  by  suns — 

'  No  end  ;  and  no  beffiuuinjf,  through  all  space — 
"  But  everlastiuj;,  mystic,  wonderful, 

■  Our  hyinniujj  song  sounds  ever  round  the  throne 

•  of  Ilim,  who  reigns  supreme  the  life  of  all." 

Then  as  the  Psalmist  sang  of  old  I  said — 
Because  so  moved  I  could  not  choose  but  speak — 

■  What,   I.ord,  is  man  that  thou  shouldst  care 

■  For  him  or  for  his  kind,— the  son  of  man  that  Thou 

■  Shouldst  mindful  be  of  him  or  his?"     Then  rang 
A  voice  of  solemn  thunder  through  the  spheres — 

'  Say,  rather.  What  is  space  or  time  to  Me 

'  That  thou  shouldst  deem  mere  mightiness  of  mass 

■  Or  plenitude  of  time  can  outweigh  mind 

'  And  soul  ?     Can  worlds  and  suns  have  knowledge  of  my  power  ? 

'  Can  .(iions  after  -lions  sing  my  praise  as  man 

'  Gifted  by  me  with  power  to  know  my  power  can  tell 

'  The  meaning  of  the  nnisic  of  the  spheres  ?" 

Then  I  replied — "Nay,  Lord,  but  if  the  words 
'  Of  men  are  worth  the  utterance  they  are  thine. 
'  Lo  we  are  but  the  creatures  of  Thy  hand  : 
'  We  see  but  part  of  all  Thy  wondrous  work. 
'  Could  we  but  .see  the  glory  of  Thy  light, 
'  Could  we  but  hear  the  thunder  of  Thy  power. 

We  should  become  both  blind  and  deaf— 

•  Deafened  by  pealing  tones,  made  blind  by  light. 
'  In  Thee  alone  we  live  and  move.      In  Thee 

We  have  our  being.      But  shall  the  finite  hymn 

The  praises  of  the  Infinite?     Shall  weak  man 

The  creature,  paint  with  erring  brush  the  Sun 

Of  might  and  power  and  wi.sdom,  evermore  supreme?" 

The  answer  came — "  Shalt  thou,  my  creature,  doubt 
'  Or  hold  my  will  in  question  ?      Learn  that  the  least 
'  Of  all  the  countless  minds  My  Will  has  made 

Outweighs,  not  once,  but  many  thousand  times 

The  mightiest  mere  mass  :   the  thoughts  of  human  hearts 

Outvie  the  movements  of  a  million  suns, 

The  rush  of  sy.stems,  infinite  through  space." 


